Computational Phenotypes

Towards an Evolutionary Developmental Biolinguistics

Sergio Balari and Guillermo Lorenzo

Description

This book confronts the hotly debated claim that language is a species specific trait of humans. It also considers the notion that disentangling the evolutionary history of language is one of science's hardest problems. Building on the recent conceptual breakthroughs of the EvoDevo paradigm, Balari and Lorenzo argue that language is not so exceptional after all. It is, rather, just the human version of a fairly common and conservative organic system which they call the Central Computational Complex. The authors also propose that interspecies variation of this organ is restricted to (i) accessible memory resources, and (ii) patterns of external connectivity, both being the result of perturbations on the system underlying its development. The book, written accessibly for both biologists and linguists, offers a fresh perspective on language as a naturally evolved phenomenon.

Computational Phenotypes

Towards an Evolutionary Developmental Biolinguistics

Sergio Balari and Guillermo Lorenzo

Table of Contents

1. The Pains of Being Owenians/Chomskyans/Cartesians at Heart2. My Beloved Monster3. The Dead End of Communication4. On True Homologues5. Computational Homology6. Introducing Computational Evo Devo7. Other Minds8. ConclusionsAppendixReferencesIndex

Computational Phenotypes

Towards an Evolutionary Developmental Biolinguistics

Sergio Balari and Guillermo Lorenzo

Author Information

Sergio Balari is a Professor of Linguistics at Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and Guillermo Lorenzo is Professor of Linguistics at Universidad de Oviedo. They are members of an interuniversity team currently working on the developmental basis and evolutionary origins of language, with funds provided by the Spanish Government and FEDER. Sergio Balari is also a member of the Centre de Linguistica Teorica (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona). They have coauthored several articles in leading journals such as Biolinguistics, Biological Theory and International Journal of Evolutionary Biology.